Arrest May Help Solve Church Theft Cases

Dozens of churches across the state lost bits of their parish history over the past 10 years when a wily burglar stole their gold and silver valuables.

The crimes touched off a debate among religious leaders about faith and trust in people. Chapel doors were locked, security alarms installed.

But the arrest last week of a church organist on Long Island has raised hopes in several Connecticut police departments that the crimes may finally be solved.

Oather James Blocker, a 45-year-old Manhattan man trained in classical piano, confessed to a 10-year spree of stealing gold and silver chalices, crosses and other religious tokens. Police said he knew his way around churches, and knew where church valuables were hidden.

If what he told police is true, Blocker may have committed as many as 500 burglaries of churches and temples throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, stealing as much as $30,000 a year, Nassau (N.Y.) County Det. Bernard Havern said.

Blocker has been charged with only three burglaries so far -- two on Long Island and one in Wayne, N.J., where he was caught in a church.

Since then, many departments have asked whether Blocker is responsible for the burglaries in their towns. New Britain police were so excited that they are pulling all their files on church burglaries since the late 1970s and shipping them to Long Island, Lt. James Ahern said. Police in Hartford, Middletown and Weston said they will see whether Blocker could have stolen items in their towns.

But even if police prove that Blocker is responsible for any Connecticut burglaries, they might not be able to press charges. The statute of limitations for burglary is five years, said Hartford State's Attorney John M. Bailey. Most of the church burglaries took place in Connecticut in the mid-1980s.

One reason to pursue the investigations, however, would be to recover some of the stolen items, Bailey said. At the very least, many unsolved cases could be closed.

As many as 40 break-ins were reported in Connecticut churches

in the mid-1980s, including sanctuaries in Cheshire, Simsbury, Farmington, Newington and throughout Fairfield County. The Westchester County Department of Public Safety in New York tracked the burglaries through a task force, but it was disbanded in 1990 because of budget cuts.

Many of the break-ins bear similarities to the way police in Nassau, N.Y., say Blocker worked. The organist would slip in late at night, usually by breaking a window or a glass door. He knew where the valuables were kept and would take them without disturbing anything else, showing respect for the place he was stealing from.

Blocker's getaway was usually his method of arrival -- public transportation. He would get rid of the valuables in lower Manhattan, where it was presumably melted down, Havern said.

With so many burglaries, hopes are dim that the treasures once used to celebrate Mass will be recovered.

"No matter what he stole, it's long gone," Middletown police Lt. George Lang said. "I'm sure he doesn't remember what he took.